How to play Umbrella Academy: The Board Game – Advantage Cards

Welcome back dear reader to another of our Umbrella Academy gameplay blogs. So far we’ve given you a brief overview of the game, a description of the dangerous hazards you’ll be facing and the Skill cards you’ll be using to defeat them. In today’s blog, we’re talking about the game board and also Advantage cards. Without further ado then, grab your umbrellas and let’s prepare for a storm of information.

ADVANTAGE CARDS

We’ll start with Advantage cards. The Advantages are mixed in with the standard Hazard cards and the unique Villain cards to create the Main Deck. This is the deck you’ll be drawing from each Round to determine what Hazards are threatening the city, or what Advantages you’ll be able to grab to give you the upper hand.

Advantage cards can be picked up by players if they’re in a location without a Hazard. Once picked up, you can then use the Advantage cards as though they were a Skill card. Why would that be handy? You may think. Well, say you need a certain type of Battle Token but don’t have the right Skill card in your hand, you can collect an Advantage card and use that instead. For example, on the Plan card show above, that would allow you to place a Wits Battle Token on a Villain or Hazard.

Perhaps one of the most useful Advantage cards, however, is the Levitator Belt. Moving around the board normally requires a Player to sacrifice one of their precious Skill cards, but with the Levitator Belt in your hand, you can use that to move to any location on the board… very handy if you want to get to the Moon!

Another important element of Advantage cards is that they don’t count toward your overall hand size. Normally – depending upon the amount of players – you’ll have a limit on the number of Skill cards you can have in your hand, which limits your actions. However, with Advantage cards, you can add additional cards, without restricting the amount of Skill cards you’ll draw.

THE GAME BOARD

Advantage cards aren’t the only element that can help with your mission to save the world, because the game board itself can actually be an unlikely ally. This is because certain locations can be used to trigger special actions.

Normally these special effects would be covered by Hazard or Advantage cards but, if you’ve destroyed the Hazard or collected the Advantage card, then you’re free to use the special ability hidden underneath.

For example, on the Moon, you’ve got the option to discard a Skill card to place a Battle Token anywhere on the board.

Meanwhile, over at Huxley County General Hospital, you can discard any Wound cards in your hand – very useful in the later stages of a mission when you’ve potentially taken a pounding.

As a result, using the board to your advantage can be the difference between success and failure, so make sure you destroy those Hazards quickly before key locations are covered up!

UMBRELLA ACADEMY: THE BOARD GAME IS LIVE ON GAMEFOUND. YOU CAN BACK THE PROJECT HERE.